IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/sustdv/v34y2026i2p2427-2442.html

Between Emancipation and Domination? A Critical Analysis of Empowerment in a Women‐Only Development Program in Costa Rica's Coffee Sector

Author

Listed:
  • Annelie M. Gütte
  • Maria Busse
  • Stefan Sieber
  • Michelle Bonatti

Abstract

Female empowerment and its use in development contexts has histories in coloniality. Gender programs typically imply an individualistic, depoliticized concept. This article examines whether such initiatives can be supportive for empowerment. We apply an embedded qualitative case study of Bean Voyage's program to support female coffee producers in Costa Rica. Using a four‐dimensional concept of power (power within, power with, power to, power over), we analyze how participants at different empowerment stages engage with program opportunities and their perceived effects. Semi‐structured interviews were analyzed through a deductive–inductive approach to assess empowerment stages and related activities. Results indicate that empowerment is an intrinsic and collective process that must emancipate from external stimuli and extend beyond economic dimensions. The study concludes that recognizing empowerment as a situated, relational, and political process reframes dominant gender‐development paradigms and offers critical guidance for more context‐sensitive and transformative sustainable development practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Annelie M. Gütte & Maria Busse & Stefan Sieber & Michelle Bonatti, 2026. "Between Emancipation and Domination? A Critical Analysis of Empowerment in a Women‐Only Development Program in Costa Rica's Coffee Sector," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(2), pages 2427-2442, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:34:y:2026:i:2:p:2427-2442
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.70461
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.70461
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sd.70461?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ganle, John Kuumuori & Afriyie, Kwadwo & Segbefia, Alexander Yao, 2015. "Microcredit: Empowerment and Disempowerment of Rural Women in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 335-345.
    2. de Janvry, Alain & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 2020. "Using agriculture for development: Supply- and demand-side approaches," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    3. Sarah Lyon & Tad Mutersbaugh & Holly Worthen, 2019. "Constructing the female coffee farmer: Do corporate smart‐economic initiatives promote gender equity within agricultural value chains?," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 34-47, January.
    4. Carmen Deere & Abena Oduro & Hema Swaminathan & Cheryl Doss, 2013. "Property rights and the gender distribution of wealth in Ecuador, Ghana and India," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 11(2), pages 249-265, June.
    5. Srilatha Batliwala, 2007. "Taking the power out of empowerment – an experiential account," Development in Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4-5), pages 557-565.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tendai Zawaira & Matthew W. Clance & Carolyn Chisadza, 2020. "Social Institutions and Gender-Biased Outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 2020101, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    2. Bhuiyan, Muhammad Faress & Ivlevs, Artjoms, 2019. "Micro-entrepreneurship and subjective well-being: Evidence from rural Bangladesh," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 625-645.
    3. Hartarska, Valentina M. & Zhang, Jingfang & Nadolnyak, Denis A., 2023. "Scope Economies from Rural and Urban Microfinance Services," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335439, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. repec:osf:socarx:783rw_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Dileni Gunewardena & Abdoulaye Seck, 2020. "Heterogeneity in entrepreneurship in developing countries: Risk, credit, and migration and the entrepreneurial propensity of youth and women," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 713-725, August.
    6. Asiedu, Elizabeth & Azomahou, Théophile T. & Getachew, Yoseph & Yitbarek, Eleni, 2021. "Share the love: Parental bias, women empowerment and intergenerational mobility," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 846-867.
    7. Tanusree Mishra & Tanmoyee Banerjee, 2024. "Disempowerment of Women: The Experience of Indian States," Millennial Asia, , vol. 15(1), pages 107-137, March.
    8. Gladys Merma-Molina & Mayra Urrea-Solano & Salvador Baena-Morales & Diego Gavilán-Martín, 2022. "The Satisfactions, Contributions, and Opportunities of Women Academics in the Framework of Sustainable Leadership: A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-23, July.
    9. Neema Ciza Angélique & Vwima Stany & Philippe Lebailly & Hossein Azadi, 2022. "Agricultural Development in the Fight against Poverty: The Case of South Kivu, DR Congo," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-24, March.
    10. Fuhong Zhang & Apurbo Sarkar & Hongyu Wang, 2021. "Does Internet and Information Technology Help Farmers to Maximize Profit: A Cross-Sectional Study of Apple Farmers in Shandong, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, April.
    11. Merrey, D. J. & Lefore, Nicole, 2018. "Improving the availability and effectiveness of rural and “Micro” finance for small-scale irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa: a review of lessons learned," IWMI Working Papers H049027, International Water Management Institute.
    12. Han, Wenjing & Zhang, Xiaoling & Zhang, Zhengfeng, 2019. "The role of land tenure security in promoting rural women’s empowerment: Empirical evidence from rural China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 280-289.
    13. Tibebu Legesse & Aneteneh Ashebir & Zerhun Ganewo & Abera Alemu & Andachew Samuel, 2024. "Determinants of market outlet choices by smallholder mango farmers in Aleta Chuko District, Sidama Region, Ethiopia: a multivariate probit approach," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 1-21, December.
    14. Ceballos, Francisco & Chugh, Aditi & Kramer, Berber, 2024. "Impacts of personalized picture-based crop advisories: Experimental evidence from India and Kenya," IFPRI discussion papers 2322, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    15. Yan Jin & Liyun Zhang & Lu Feng, 2022. "Success Factors of Cross-Border Agricultural Investments for Opium Poppy Alternative Project under China’s Belt and Road Initiative," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-16, November.
    16. Zelu, Barbara Ama & Iranzo, Susana & Perez-Laborda, Alejandro, 2024. "Financial inclusion and women economic empowerment in Ghana," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    17. Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Quisumbing, Agnes & Doss, Cheryl & Theis, Sophie, 2019. "Women's land rights as a pathway to poverty reduction: Framework and review of available evidence," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 72-82.
    18. Camara, Alhassane & Savard, Luc, 2023. "Impact of agricultural input subsidy policy on market participation and income distribution in Africa: A bottom-up/top-down approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    19. Nebal Al Maaitah, 2019. "The Legitimacy of Profit of Microlending Institutions and Womens Empowerment: A Case Study from Jordan," Theory Methodology Practice (TMP), Faculty of Economics, University of Miskolc, vol. 15(01), pages 3-17.
    20. Rahul Nilakantan & Deepak Iyengar & Samar K. Datta & Shashank Rao, 2021. "On Ethical Violations in Microfinance Backed Small Businesses: Family and Household Welfare," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(4), pages 785-802, September.
    21. Deininger,Klaus W. & Xia,Fang & Savastano,Sara, 2015. "Smallholders? land ownership and access in Sub-Saharan Africa: a new landscape ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7285, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:34:y:2026:i:2:p:2427-2442. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1719 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.